Various devices are known which have multiple work stations with workpieces received on locators therein and a mechanism for lifting and carrying workpieces from one station to another. Usually, a shuttle underlies all the workpieces and is raised and lowered generally vertically by elevators underlying the shuttle. The elevators are usually actuated by a drive mechanism underlying the shuttle which in operation raises the elevators and hence the shuttle to lift the workpieces generally vertically above the locators whereupon the shuttle is actuated to advance the workpieces and then the elevators are lowered to move the shuttle generally vertically downward to deposit the advanced workpieces in the work stations. After the shuttle is lowered sufficiently to disengage and clear the workpieces, it is retracted.
For many workpiece configurations to clear the locators when lifted and the shuttle when lowered long vertical strokes of the elevators are necessary. This necessity for long vertical strokes results in excessive vertical height above the floor of the workpieces when deposited on the locators in the stations, instability of the shuttle and workpieces when raised, and difficulty in synchronizing the movement of all of the elevators and synchronizing movement of the elevators with the shuttle. Moreover, since the elevators and drive mechanism are disposed under the workpieces, they are highly susceptible to becoming contaminated and malfunctioning due to dirt, chips and the like falling off the workpieces and dropping onto the mechanism.